Don Vultaggio & family
$5.9B
Born
Feb 26, 1952
Age
73
Source of Wealth
Beverages
Residence
Port Washington, New York
Citizenship
United States
Marital Status
Married
Children
2
Education
High School Graduate, High School
- Arizona Beverages cofounder Don Vultaggio has built his fortune one 99-cent tallboy can of iced tea at a time.
- He got his start in the 1970s selling beer and soda from the back of an old van in Brooklyn's toughest neighborhoods, where others refused to go.
- In 1992 he went into iced tea, launching Arizona from a Brooklyn warehouse and quickly toppling the competition with taller cans and flashier labels.
- Arizona sells some $4 billion worth of tea, juice, water and alcoholic drinks annually, including its popular green tea and Arnold Palmer lines.
- In 2015 he was ordered to buy out his former friend and partner, John Ferolito, for about $1 billion to settle a lengthy, bitter shareholder dispute.
- Arizona's flamboyant, Southwest-themed packaging was inspired by his Queens home, which stood out thanks to white and turquoise stucco and a cactus garden out front.
- Vultaggio often wallpapers offices himself and, on his birthday, throws a pajama party where he cooks pancakes and omelets for his entire 300-person office staff.
- In 2019, Arizona partnered with Denver-based cannabis company Dixie Brands to produce THC-infused products.
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